Quite a day for independent gubernatorial candidate Lincoln Chafee. He has proclaimed that, as governor, he would ban special deals for out-of-state companies like Curt Schilling's video-game company, recently issued a controversial $75 million loan guarantee by the state's economic development corporation. That proposal, of course, can only revive talk of his suggestion that Schilling, the former Red Sox hurler, faked his famous "bloody sock."

With President Obama under fire for supporting the proposed mosque and community center near Ground Zero in Manhattan, Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed played the increasingly familiar role of Democrat-with-military-bona-fides in defending the administration on the Sunday talk show circuit yesterday. From the Washington Post:

The Post reports tension within the Kennedy clan over the idea. And retiring Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy, who has been fairly open about his difficult relationship with his stepmother, is among the doubters:

An advocacy group calling itself the New Leaders Project and declaring a "pro-growth," "pro-jobs," fix-the-legislature agenda, has issued a first round of endorsements for General Assembly candidates. The "multi-partisan" group says it will endorse Democrats, Republicans, Moderates, and Independents who share its vision.

It seemed, for a time, that Deepwater Wind's proposal for turbines off the coast of Rhode Island - a small demonstration project near Block Island followed by a much larger array further out to sea - was living a charmed existence. It had the strong backing of a GOP governor and a Democratic legislature - and nothing like the well-financed, persistent opposition that has proved a major drag on the Cape Wind project off Massachusetts.

In case you haven't seen it, here's Congressional candidate David Segal's ad. Only trouble he'll have is convincing voters that his leading opponent - David Cicilline - is the sort of corporate puppet he lampoons.

N4N returns from vacation to an amusing spat between Congressional candidate Anthomy Gemma and Providence mayoral candidate Angel Taveras over the provenance of a proposal for an online "dashboard" meant to improve citizen interaction with government.

First, a press release from Gemma's campaign after Taveras made his own dashboard announcement: